MARIAH Riggs
Favorite Part of Job? I enjoy meeting all of the wonderful people I meet while working to ensure they have a successful event at the Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center. I feel so fortunate that I am able to run a weekly classic film series that allows me to watch some of the best films ever made on the big screen, and sharing these films with the community. I love working with the technical aspects of the multimedia world and producing live performances.
Most Inspiring Mentor: My mentor is my mother Melinda Moulton. She stayed home with my brother and me until I began 1st grade. She then re-entered the workforce and worked her way up through the glass ceiling becoming a very successful CEO and redeveloper and wonderful grandparent.
Tell us something fun about yourself that few people know: In high school I studied abroad in Melbourne Australia.
Favorite Downtime Activity: In the winter I love to go skiing at Mad River Glen and in the summer I try to swim everyday in the numerous swimming holes we have in the area.
Favorite Vermont Escape: I live in Huntington and I try to go hiking in the Green Mountains and the Long Trail as much as possible.
Favorite Social Media: My Favorite Social Media would be using Twitter and Instagram.
Favorite Website: I like to check out Vice.com on a daily basis and stream radio broadcasts of WFMU.org out of New York.
Vermont Business Person you would most want to Network with: Lars Torres, Director of The Office of the Creative Economy (OCE)
Career Highlights: While at Emerson Collage earning a double major in Film and Audio Production I worked as an intern at Avid Technologies on development of the Avid Symphony software for Mac users. I also worked at the Harvard Film Archive as a Special Events Coordinator running the Film Series with the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline. After getting married in Vermont my husband and I moved to Austin Texas where I worked as an Assistant Producer for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. While working at Main Street Landing I launched Movies at Main Street Landing. A weekly movie series which started in November of 2011. We bring great classic cinema- for free- to Burlington. I also started Rocketshop Live with Big Heavy World, Seven Days and RETN. It is the first live music show of its kind in the state of Vermont to be simulcasted on both radio and television.
Community Involvement: I was born in Huntington, and when I moved back I became very involved in community work on behalf of the town. In 2011 I assisted on a successful Municipal Planning Grant and joined the Water/Wastewater Assessment group. The Municipal Planning Grant was intended to seek village center designation for Huntington’s two historical town centers and to look into implementing form-based code in the villages to allow for localized “smart” commercial growth within the historical districts as opposed to development in our rural farmland. During my work with the Water/Wastewater Assessment group we spent almost two years looking at Huntington’s potential for growth and to develop a comprehensive plan for the future of the town’s water and wastewater needs. Also in 2011 I was appointed as a member of the Town Hall Committee. We are endeavoring to restore a 100-year-old town landmark so that the people of Huntington can once again utilize it for community events. The second floor is a dynamic stage/performance space that was once used for town meetings, community plays and dances. We are now raising money though grants that will be used to bring the building up to code (ADA) so that the people of Huntington can again utilize and enjoy this historic facility. On a more personal note I have a nine-year-old son who has Autism. This past year he started alpine skiing in the winter and swimming in the summer as an athlete for the Addison County Special Olympics Team. As a teenager, I was a ski instructor at Mad River Glen and a lifeguard at Red Rocks in Burlington and this experience has proved useful in assisting with the Special Olympic teams. My husband and I have become very involved and help both of his coaches at practice each week and during the winter and summer games.
John Boutin, Publisher of VBM, Lisa Gosselin, VT Dept. Economic Dev. and Rising Star Mariah Riggs.